The U.S. Department of Education (ED) on Thursday determined that Denver Public Schools (DPS) violated Title IX, the federal law barring sex-based discrimination at educational institutions, by creating all-gender bathrooms and allowing students to use facilities that align with their gender identity.

A probe by the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had been opened in January over the changes, which involved East High School. The district had made a restroom that was designated for girls at the school into an all-gender facility. The move was described by officials as being against federal requirements and policies under Title IX.

The move, which was justified by DPS as being in line with the demands of students, involved a girls’ restroom being changed to an all-gender one on the same floor as a bathroom used by boys. The district has since added an all-gender facility on the same floor, citing fairness, though students and visitors still have access to other facilities for men and women on that floor and throughout the school.

The gender-neutral restroom, according to district leaders, was designed with student input and 12-foot-tall partitions around toilets for privacy and security purposes. But federal officials have taken issue with the conversion, with the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, saying the change amounted to denying students equal access to bathroom facilities on the basis of sex, thereby creating what he said was a “hostile environment” in contravention of Title IX.

Department of Education to Issue Resolution Plan

The Department of Education sent a notice to DPS on Wednesday with a proposed resolution that has four conditions the district must agree to and complete within 10 days or else risk enforcement.

The proposed resolution would require the school district to:

• Return all all-gender multi-stall restrooms to be sex-segregated.
• Stop policies that would allow students to access facilities based on their gender identity rather than biological sex.
• Use “biology-based definitions” of “male” and “female” for policies and practices related to Title IX.
• Issue a memo to schools in the district that bathrooms must ensure privacy, dignity, and security of students and be “equally accessible” to both sexes.

Should the district fail to agree to the terms of the resolution, it could face enforcement action, which can lead to the federal government withdrawing funds from DPS.

OCR official Trainor said the district’s actions “directly conflict” with requirements of Title IX and “sacrifice” the privacy, dignity, and safety of students.

“We cannot and will not stand by as a Federal agency that is charged with upholding the law and with being a guardian of taxpayer dollars allows an elementary school district to harm children on a massive scale in order to appease a small group of ideologues,” Trainor wrote in a statement.

“Students attend public schools to receive an education, not to be indoctrinated or be the subjects of unbridled social engineering that turns them into political footballs,” he added. “No federally funded institution is above the law and our agency will work tirelessly to protect students from becoming victims of discrimination.”

Denver Public Schools had previously pushed back on the government’s claims, saying that students were directly involved in the change and it was meant to provide security and privacy for students who use the bathrooms. In a statement Wednesday, a DPS spokesperson said students still have a number of bathroom options at schools, including single-stall, all-gender restrooms.

The issue of transgender bathroom access has been a larger topic of debate in the U.S., with President Donald Trump in March signing an order barring transgender girls from competing on sports teams that do not line up with their biological sex.

Members of Congress have also introduced legislation that would prevent transgender students from using bathrooms or playing on sports teams of their choice based on gender identity. Meanwhile, the Education Department is also handling a number of other cases, including one against George Mason University over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices it called discriminatory against conservative students in violation of Title VI.

What to Watch for Now

DPS now has to decide if it will accept the proposed resolution by the Department of Education and roll back its policies or face the threat of enforcement actions and potentially millions of dollars in federal education funds.

The district is currently working on formulating a response to the letter from the department that is due in less than two weeks. The development is a reminder of the ongoing debate between the federal government, local governments, and school districts and students over how schools should approach gender identity issues.